


all up under him like it's cold

by AozoraNoShita



Series: vague undefined office au [3]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Marriage Proposal, quite possibly the fluffiest thing I've ever written, vague undefined office AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-19 09:12:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9432119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AozoraNoShita/pseuds/AozoraNoShita
Summary: Aaron Burr comes up with a ridiculous idea to propose to his ridiculous boyfriend.





	1. still the one I need, I will always be with you

**Author's Note:**

> I almost used a really cute and romantic title I've been saving for a while but...BEYONCE  
> I copied the relevant passages from "touch on you more and more every time" into the beginning here, but...feel free to reread that fic...  
> (also I love em dashes and dialogue)

_With a sigh that Aaron felt as it expanded in the other man's chest and then blew out over his head, Alex maneuvered until their legs were tangled together, as well. "You're like a salamander," he complained half-heartedly. Aaron let this slide, because he was cold and Alex had started running his warm fingers over the back of Aaron's neck._

_He hated the cold._

_"Please marry me," he slurred, giving up on dignity for the moment. Just for a moment._

_"Wow."_

_"You'd be a nice wife. Or I could be the wife. Either way."_

_"Aaron, dear, if we got married we'd both be husbands. Neither of us would be 'the wife.'"_

_"Semantics," he muttered, rather impressively considering the haze he was rapidly falling into. "You know what I meant."_

-Chapter 3

* * *

 

_Alex wriggled until he could whisper in his ear, “You’re not allowed to kill him.”_

_Aaron blinked, finally looked up to meet Alex’s gaze. The bastard actually looked amused. “Did I say anything about killing him? I never said that.”_

_“You were thinking it. I could tell.” He seemed inordinately pleased about this fact._

_“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I plead the fifth.”_

_“When they call me as a witness I’m gonna hafta lay you out bare, Burr.”_

_“Spousal immunity,” he protested immediately._

_Alex was delighted. “This is the second time I’ve had you under me where you’ve kinda sorta asked me to marry you!”_

-Chapter 7

* * *

 

Aaron really, really wanted to marry Alexander Hamilton.

And he was almost 100% positive that Alex wanted to marry him, too. They hadn’t talked about it, per se, more like made a few offhand comments, a couple jokes. It seemed like a sure thing, though. A definite event they were heading towards. At some point Alex would ask Aaron to marry him, in some ridiculous and over-the-top manner because Alex loved big romantic gestures (the cornier the better), and Aaron would give him grief for it but say yes, and they’d get married and be stupidly in love for the rest of their lives.

Aaron felt like they’d reached that point, finally. They’d been dating officially for long enough, and semi-quasi-unofficially dating for even longer. He would have been happy just going over to the courthouse some weekend, but he hadn’t suggested it because he knew Alex would want to do something big.

Except, as time went by, Alex _didn’t_ ask. Aaron would have started to wonder if he did want to get engaged, except every time Eliza or Mulligan made a ‘when you guys finally get hitched’ comment, Alex would give him this breathless, beaming smile, a confirmation between the two of them. But just how long was Alex going to make him wait?

_Am_ I _going to have to do it?_ Aaron thought suddenly one day, in the middle of watching a video of a cat walking in snow. He paused the clip, struck by this new idea. He’d assumed Alex would want to be the romantic one here, but maybe he was waiting for _Aaron_ to be romantic and propose. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became. If Alex wanted to be the one to propose he should have done it already. Now Aaron was going to do it. Decided, he went back to his cat video.

(The magnitude of this decision didn’t really strike him until later, and he proceeded to have a minor freakout by himself in the bathroom.) That out of the way, he tried to think of how exactly to go about this. The way he’d been expecting Alex to propose was vastly different from how Aaron himself would do it. There had to be some kind of middle ground here, and he had to think of it before Alex caught on to his plan. He’d started watching proposal videos online for ideas, which had turned his entire recommended video feed into more of the same. Liable to get him caught, he realized, after Alex walked in on him tearing up over one and asked if he was seriously crying over one of his cat videos. He’d lied and said it was an ASPCA ad, then decided he needed to get a handle on himself and be more productive about this.

With that in mind, he asked Laurens if he wanted to get lunch.

Maybe a jerk move, considering he was Alex’s ex, but Alex had mentioned a few times that “eventually” he wanted Laurens to be his best man. Laurens had said as much, too. Anyway, if he did take offense Aaron was sure he’d let him know, loudly and publicly.

Speaking of loud and in public — “Burr!” Laurens shouted from across the road, waving wildly. Aaron rolled his eyes but waved back; after a long adjustment period they were on good, if slightly antagonistic, terms. “Burr!” Laurens exclaimed again once Aaron had crossed over to the other side of the street.

Aaron found himself being more-or-less dragged down the sidewalk as Laurens flung an arm over his shoulder and started power-walking towards the halal food stand on the corner before he could so much as say ‘hello.’

“So what’s up, Burrrr?” he asked, rolling the r’s. “You usually drag Alex out with you when we get lunch. Or did you leave him buried under an avalanche of paperwork?”

“Well actually I wanted to talk to you without him around today.”

“Really?” Laurens lit up. “Are we gonna compain about him? Have a bitching sesh?”

Aaron blinked, a bit taken aback at the sudden enthusiasm. “That...actually sounds great, but it’s not quite what I had in mind today. Kind of the opposite.”

“I don’t know that I’m up for a conversation about how _great_ he is, man. Especially since we broke up and now you guys are practically married. We’re friends but I don’t like you _that_ much.” He punctuated this with a slightly-painful clap to the back before stepping away to get in line.

“Well, it’s about the practically married thing —”

Laurens turned back around to face him so fast Aaron was surprised he didn’t give himself whiplash. “Did he propose? Why haven’t I heard about this yet? No, wait, he wouldn’t without telling me — wait. _Wait_.”

Aaron did, patiently.

“You’re gonna ask him to marry you?!”

“ _You’re_ going to ask him to marry you?” the guy manning the food cart chipped in.

Aaron glared at the both of them. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys.” The food cart guy (who actually went by ‘Guy’) held his hands up and got started on their usual orders. They waited in silence for a minute, Laurens fidgeting and Aaron already regretting the decision to discuss this with him.

Food procured, Laurens herded him over to a low wall and they sat. Aaron immediately started eating, trying to forestall the inevitable embarrassment, but of course Laurens didn’t let him get away with it.

“You’re gonna propose?”

Aaron sighed, resigned. “Yes, that’s the plan. What little I have of one.”

“So you invited me out here for, what, proposal ideas?”

“Which I realize, now that you’ve said it out loud, is probably not really an appropriate thing to ask you —”

“Not really,” Laurens agreed. “But I’ll let it go the once.” He started shoveling food in his mouth, which Aaron took as his cue to begin explaining.

“I’m just not sure how to go about it. Going too big isn’t really my style.”

“No, it’s Alex’s, and no offense but I figured he’d be the one actually poppin’ the question.”

Aaron nodded. “Yes, well, he was taking too long. So.”

Grinning, Laurens teased, “Aaron Burr got tired of waiting for it, huh?”

“And I’m not going to let him forget it,” Aaron said vehemently, prepared for that kind of comment.

“Oooh.” Laurens forked a piece of chicken into his mouth. “Got any ideas, then?” he asked around chewing.

“...Not really. Like you said, something grandiose would be more Alex’s style. I _could_ do something big, I guess.”

“He’s gonna say yes no matter how you ask,” Laurens stated, matter-of-fact. Which was nice to hear, actually. “But I don’t think he’ll mind if you skip the skywriting and the live musical accompaniment.”

“Well that’s a relief.”

“I dunno, just make it special.”

“Specific.”

“It’s your job to come up with specifics, innit? Think of something that’s like, significant or meaningful to both of you, and go from there. I dunno, wherever you went on your first date, maybe? I mean, you know what he likes.”

And for _some_ reason, Aaron’s first thought was “he likes to be on top.” And for some _unfathomable_ reason, as it so often did when Alex was involved, his mouth got away from him and he actually said that out loud to poor, unsuspecting John Laurens, who looked absolutely horrified.

“Too much info, oh my god, we are not that good of friends, Burr, Jesus —”

“No, I meant, physically, he just likes to be on top of things!” Aaron tried to explain hastily. “Like, tables. And — uh — well, I guess he does like to be on top when we’re cuddling —”

Laurens made a distressed noise. “ _Cuddling_.”

“I only mention because the first two times I asked him to marry me —”

“ _The first two times?_ ”

“—we were cuddling, kind of, and he pointed out that I’d been underneath him both times?”

Laurens’ eyes were comically wide. “The first two times you asked him to marry you,” he repeated incredulously. And, “ _Cuddling?_ ”

“Well the second time it wasn’t really cuddling…”

“Oh god you’re talking about that time on the roof, aren’t you —?”

“ _Anyway_. It’s a pattern. I suppose.”

They stared at each other for a minute.

“So just to be clear, your idea is to propose to Alex...from underneath him?”

Aaron didn’t say anything, which was all the confirmation Laurens needed to start laughing uproariously.

“If you start choking, I’m not going to save you,” Aaron informed him. “I’m CPR certified, but I will watch you die.”

“I’m just — pffft — I’m picturing you pulling out a ring, like, mid-cuddle —”

“Or mid-coitus,” Aaron interrupted, ruthless.

Laurens started making an ‘ahhhhhh!’ noise, and didn’t stop until Aaron shut his mouth again.

After another minute of eyeing each other warily, they came to an unspoken truce and resumed eating.

“Can’t believe you’re gonna beat Alex to the punch,” Laurens muttered. “Can’t believe your plan is to —” He broke off and started giggling.

“If you think it’s a bad idea —”

“No, no, it’s perfect. It’s so _you_.”

“I’m not sure how to take that.”

More giggling was his only response.

“Well this has been lovely, but I have to go get Alex to eat lunch.” Aaron stood and made eye contact with Guy, who gestured at a foil-wrapped pack already waiting on the small counter.

“Good talk!” Laurens called after him as he retrieved Alex’s lunch and fled. “I feel like a lot of good ideas were discussed today!”

Asshole.

“Wait, wait, are you _seriously_ gonna —?”

_Ugggh_.

But despite the teasing, he actually felt a lot better. He had a plan, of sorts, and more importantly: tacit approval from Alex’s best friend.

He was going to make this happen.     


	2. oh you got me all gone, don't ever let me go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took the fluffiest fluff I could fluff and made it fluffier and HERE IT IS

 

_"I think," Alexander's voice softened as he continued, "I could just read words out of the dictionary and you'd totally be into it."_

_Aaron fell asleep to Alex whispering, "Aaron. Abalone. Ablaze. Adore. Affect. Aggravate. Allow. Alluring. Amazing. Argue. Awake?"_

-Chapter 3

* * *

 

 

As ridiculous as it sounded, yes, Aaron had settled on his idea. Alex would appreciate it, he was sure, especially because it _was_ kind of ridiculous.

The problem was, like he’d said, Alex liked to be on top. So now every time they were in bed together and his boyfriend crawled over to flop on top of him, he thought about proposing. So it had essentially become a nightly thing. Sometimes after the initial _ask him now_ urge had passed, he’d be left awake thinking about how exactly he should implement his ridiculous plan to propose, all while his unwitting and very warm boyfriend snored away on top of him.

In another embarrassing instance, they’d been showering together and Aaron had managed to slip and fall, taking Alex down with him. There’d been a lot of undignified yelping and Aaron was almost positive he’d broken something for a moment but they’d ended up with Alex lying on top of him and yet for some reason he’d almost opened his mouth and proposed — wet, naked, and in pain. He seriously needed to get a hold of himself.

It had been two weeks of this by the time Peggy’s end-of-the-fiscal-quarter party rolled around, the first Saturday of October. Two weeks of having an idea but not a plan, which was not Aaron’s usual modus operandi at all. He was stressing about it, to the point where Alex had noticed and started making pointed inquiries about his health and the amount of sleep he was getting. Something had to be done, and before Aaron could come up with a solution — Alex came up with his own.

They’d started the afternoon off with a nap, which caused Alex to complain that he’d been lured into bed under false pretenses and also he wasn’t a _kid,_ Aaron, he didn’t need to take a nap. Aaron had put a hell of a lot of effort into their sleep schedule, though, and knowing they’d be up late, he’d insisted.

Except of course, he’d been distracted thinking about proposing again and hadn’t actually slept. Meanwhile his boyfriend was keyed up and full of energy post-nap, practically dragging Aaron out the door.

He managed to forget his exhaustion for a while once they got there, talking to people he hadn’t seen for a while and watching the Accounting department get increasingly drunk, with Peggy urging them all on from her perch on top of a table. The ring of accountants had adopted Alex into their circle and they were all discussing...something financial, Aaron couldn’t really make it out.

He almost got sucked into conversation with Mulligan and Laurens, but the latter kept waggling his eyebrows at him, so he absconded as soon as he could. He was half worried Laurens would follow him, but Alex came to his rescue, grabbing his arm and leading him towards a corner.

“Should I be jealous? Why is John looking at you like that?”

“Because he’s the bane of my existence,” Aaron said mournfully.

“I thought _I_ was the bane of your existence.” Alex gave him a faux-sulky look before brightening into a smile. “Glad you guys are getting along.”

“Hmmm.”

Alex whapped him lightly on the shoulder. “Don’t tell me I’m really not the bane of your existence anymore?”

_More like the love of my life_ , Aaron almost said out loud, and _god_ he really was sleep deprived.

“What will I do if your life doesn’t revolve around how annoying I am anymore?” Alex continued, oblivious until Aaron stopped and put a hand over his eyes. “Hey, you alright?”

“Fine.”

“Doesn’t seem like it. Oh, I wanted to show you something, c’mere.” And proceeded to drag Aaron along to a hallway and upstairs, where it was blessedly quiet. Even Alex was being quiet, though he was wearing a smirk that boded ill intent as he pulled Aaron into — ah. An empty bedroom.

“I know you aren’t suggesting—”

“Who’s suggesting?” Alex asked, suggestively. He shoved Aaron lightly towards the bed.

“This is not our apartment, and it’s a bad idea.”

“Probably!” was the cheerful answer. “Hey, you’ve been stressing for like two weeks, dear. Unwind a bit.”

“Someone else’s house,” he repeated. He sat on the bed. Alex slid into his lap.

_This kind of counts as being on top of me_ , he thought, and tensed, because _not the time, brain_.

“Or we can chill, whatever you want, just _relax_ , oh my God.” Arms went around him and warm fingers started rubbing firm circles at the base of his neck. Despite himself, he did start to relax.

“We’re at someone else’s house,” he repeated again.

“Yeah, you’ve said that like a million times.”

“Twice? Three times.”

“Whatever.”

“So how far would…” he trailed off momentarily when Alex’s predatory expression returned with a vengeance, “...how far would we even be able…” He started tugging at the hem of his boyfriend’s shirt.

“Would you like me to tell you?” Alex asked sweetly. “Or would you like to figure it out for yourself?”

Aaron hesitated, which made Alex roll his eyes.

“Seriously? Where’s your sense of adventure, Burr?”

Having managed to get his hands under the shirt and onto warm skin, Aaron gave him a look. “Isn’t ‘Burr’ a little formal considering your position here?”

“Not too formal for someone still wearing all these clothes.”

Which was an interesting concept. Suddenly Aaron really, really wanted to hear Alex say his name.

So he wrangled Alex’s shirt off, and his own as well, and let Alex push him back to lie on the bed even as his hands continued roaming.

There was a spot under the ribs, where his stomach turned soft, that made Alex hum, which was nice. Then at the small of his back, if Aaron dug his fingers in just right on either side of his spine, a long groan. Further down, and he got a sighed, breathy “Aaaaaah,” which was closer but still not quite what he was aiming for.

“Aaaaaabsolutely unbelievable, you _deviants_!” John Laurens crowed from the open door.

“... _Murder_.”

“Aaron, _no_.”

 

“John, Peggy will literally kill us. Don’t say anything.” Alex, shirt very obviously untucked, was pleading their case to his gleeful-looking best friend.

Laurens was cackling a bit, and Aaron was putting his shirt back on very slowly because if he didn’t have anything to do with his hands they were going to go around the asshole’s neck.

“A’ight, fine, I won’t say anything, but I do gotta have a word with Burr for a minute.”

Suspicious, Alex looked between the two of them. “With Burr? Aaron?”

“Yeah, that one. Go bother Herc for a minute, why don’tcha? It'll just be a second.”

When Alex looked to him again for confirmation, Aaron sighed. “Bane of my existence,” he muttered. “Go ahead. I promise no one will be murdered.”

“You sure?” Laurens asked, presumably just to be contrary because as soon as Alex left he pulled Aaron into a mostly-friendly and non-murderous headlock. “Soooo, he was on top of you. Propose yet?” This was most likely a joke, so Aaron tried not to react, which naturally just made Laurens more determined to get a reaction. “C’mon, man, it’s been weeks and I haven’t heard any news yet. You got a ring and everything, right?”

Aaron remained silent.

“You _don’t_. You don’t even have a real plan, do you?” He whistled, which was annoying because who actually did that to express surprise? No one. “You’ve really gotten worked up about this, haven’t you? Alex has you wrapped around his finger so tight you don’t know which way is up.”

“You’re mixing idioms.”

“Don’t be an asshole, I’m staging an intervention here.”

“Is that what this is?” Aaron asked incredulously, finally freeing himself from Laurens’s hold.

“It’s about to be.”

Which, ominous.

 

Later when he and Laurens emerged Alex greeted them with a sheepish smile, reaching out to grab Aaron’s hand.

“He didn’t give you too much grief, did he?”

“ _So_ much grief. Grief like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Oh, poor thing.”

“Mmhm.”

And even later, when he finally got to take _all_ of Alex’s clothes off in the safety of their own apartment — “ _Aaron._ ”

 

Just as Laurens had told-slash-threatened him the night before, his friends were waiting in the morning to kidnap him.

“John said you were going to _propose_!” Lafayette practically shrieked, making everyone in the car wince. “What is the plan?”

“No,” Aaron told him. “I told John and am now regretting it immensely. You can hear about it after the fact.”

The Frenchman looked about ready to argue the point, but was fortunately distracted by Mulligan asking for directions. With the two of them chattering in the front of the car, Aaron was free to relax into his seat in the back with a sigh. The peace was short-lived.

“So where’s loverboy at now?” Bellamy asked from his right.

On his left, Theo snorted and guessed, “Being distracted by Laurens, probably.”

“Ah yeah, makes sense. And we’re heading to…?”

“Weren’t you paying attention, Bells?”

“No, absolutely not, never.”

“We’re going to buy a ring!”

“Which I don’t need accompaniment to do,” Aaron interrupted. “And apparently you don’t even need me for this conversation, so why are we all crammed in this car together?”

Bell and Theo latched onto his arms immediately, cooing. “Aww, feeling left out?” Theo asked.

“You know you can chime in whenever you feel like,” Bell said reassuringly.

“Why are all of my friends so annoying?” Aaron asked.

Theo pointed out, “You’re planning on proposing to the most annoying out of the bunch.”

“I’d argue he’s less annoying then Laurens,” Aaron grumbled, still a little annoyed.

“Why’s that?”

“Well I’m not sleeping with him on a regular basis, for one thing —”

Which prompted Bell to cut in with a loud, “WAIT, did you get laid last night?!”

The car promptly erupted into chaos, despite Aaron’s protests that _they’d been dating for forever it wasn’t that outlandish_ , and _seriously guys, come on_.

Mulligan took them to a nice but not too-nice jewelry store, which was about where Aaron’s brain stalled out. Theo shot him a sympathetic look and managed to herd Mulligan and Lafayette off to look at something-or-other, while Bell gently prodded him up to the nearest display case.

“So?” he asked, and waited patiently, because he was a great friend.

Aaron looked at the selection before him and thought about Alex. “I don’t need an engagement ring,” he decided, “He’d just lose it. I need something simple that will work as a wedding band and I can propose with it.”

“What, no sparkly rocks?”

Aaron winced. “No, I think just bands are better. I mean, we’ll be wearing them every day for the rest of our lives…”

Bell’s lips turned up into a soft smile. “That’s true. Simple, then.”

“Not too simple or he’ll _complain_ every day for the rest of our lives.”

This time Bell laughed. “Okay, picky. How about that one?”

Between the two of them they narrowed it down until Aaron was pretty sure which one he wanted. This was the point where the other three crowded back around to see his choice.

Mulligan: “Very nice.”

Lafayette: “He’ll love it!”

Theo: “It’ll look good on you, too.”

So now, armed with a ring and the approval of his friends, he just had to actually _do it_.

(And preferably before he snapped and killed Laurens for sending him Shia Labeouf memes every day.)

 

Aaron was texting Theo and lying on the carpeted floor when Alex came over and lay down beside him.

“Look at us,” he said. “We own half of a duplex.”

“Don’t technically own it,” Aaron pointed out, putting his phone to the side.

“Semantics,” Alex dismissed, and proceeded to jab him in the ribs several times as he scooched in closer to clamber on top of him and put his head under Aaron’s chin.

Aaron allowed it, taking the moment of quiet to look around and note the new carpet, the bare (for now) walls, and the stack of moving boxes to be unpacked in the corner. His arms tightened around Alex’s waist, where they’d settled automatically, and he hummed when Alex started to gently headbutt him. “What?”

Alex wriggled a bit and propped himself up to look down at him. “I feel like we’re on the verge of a moment, here.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah! Moving in together, I mean we were already living together, but this is like, not a shitty apartment living together it’s renting half of a building that looks like a house living together. Duplexes are a weird concept. Anyway, that’s not the point.”

“What’s the point, then? Or did you have one?”

“The _point_ , dear, is that I’m pretty sure this means we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together.”

Aaron’s heart started beating faster, and Alex’s fingers tightened into his shirt right over it, like he could feel. “Uh...wouldn’t actually buying and owning an entire house be more of a rest-of-our-lives move?” he asked.

“What, in this economy?”

This managed to make Aaron laugh.

“Nah,” Alex continued. “But I have a feeling.” And he smiled, dark eyes shining and lips quirked in the half-grin that meant he was in a particularly soft and relaxed mood. “I’m really happy.”

And what else was Aaron, with his heart beating triple time, supposed to say to that?

“Alex, will you marry me?”

His boyfriend looked surprised for all of two seconds before he schooled his expression and asked, “But, aren’t we already engaged?”

“...What.”

“ _Well_ ,” and okay, the little bastard was definitely trying not to laugh, “you’ve already asked me twice so I just figured, y’know, that we _were_ engaged? Right?”

“Hamilton.” He took a deep breath and flipped them so he could pin his boyfriend-maybe-fiance to the floor. “Hamilton,” he repeated, voice low and serious. “Have you been waiting this entire time for me to propose....so you could make a joke about whether or not we were already engaged?”

He was definitely grinning now. “Maaaaybe." Caved almost immediately. "Okay, yes. See it’s funny because it’s like when we didn’t know if we were dating —”

Aaron moved to get up. “I take it back,” he announced.

“Hey, whoa, no takebacks! We’re getting married now, no choice.”

“You’re the _worst_.”

“I’m _hilarious_!” He scrambled up after him. “ _A_ _nd_ you love me, and you want to marry me, and now we live together and there’s no escape, Aaron, this is happening. You’re gonna have to get me a ring and everything.”

Aaron gave him a sardonic look but relented slightly, reaching out to tug him closer. “So that was a yes, then?”

“Yeah. Yes. Definitely.” Alex crowded in to kiss him, light and chaste, between each affirmation. He was still giggling a little, though.

“I had a plan, you know,” Aaron told him, and started to herd him backwards towards the door to the backyard. “Not much of one, but it basically involved proposing while I was underneath you.”

Alex’s eyes lit up, understanding immediately. “Just like the first two times! Aaron, that’s so cute.”

“Mmmhm.” He reached to turn the doorknob as they arrived at the backdoor, slightly distracted by the repeated kisses, but he managed to throw the door open and back Alex out onto the small patio.

The autumn evening was already starting to darken to night, sky turning from burnt orange to dusky purple, which was perfect lighting for the candles.

Alex broke away from him, distracted by the flickering. “What —?” A mass of candles, most in shades of green and purple, lined the railings of the patio, all putting out gentle firelight. Tall vases overflowing with roses and camellias stood below the candles, softly illuminated. It wasn’t much, and he’d have to thank Theo later for lighting all of these for him, but it was enough to leave Alex at a loss for words. Except for: “ _Aaron_?”

“Right, like I was saying. The plan was to be underneath you, _so_.” He got down on one knee. “Hopefully kneeling works.”

It was a little darker than Aaron had anticipated, but it was light enough with the candles that he could see the astonishment on Alex’s face.

“Did you — oh my god, you did. You _knew_ I was going to make that joke. You were waiting for it so you could turn around and actually propose. You faked me out.”

This time it was Aaron’s turn to grin. “Well when I asked you to date me you said I wasn’t romantic enough about it. _So_.”

Alex laughed, but it sounded a little watery. “ _So,_ ask me.”

Finally.

“Alex. I wanted to wait until we’d moved into our new home, so I could — wait. What’s another word for house?” He reached into his sweater and pulled out a pocket dictionary. He flipped a few pages in. “Ah, yes. _Abode._ ”

“Is that a dictionary — ?”

“Yes, and I wanted to use it to tell you that you’re the best thing in my life. The apex, the acme, the apogee, if you will. I adore you, and even though you’re one of the most aggravating and abrasive people I’ve ever met, you’re also the most amazing, the most alluring,” he paused and smiled; Alexander was halfway covering his face, looking like he was about to start crying. “Adorable, awesome.” Which earned him a laugh. “ _Attractive_ .” He reached out; Alex immediately took his hand and squeezed it, hard. “I want to tell you that I love you — ardently, avidly, all-encompassing. I want to be with you, always. _So_.” He set the dictionary aside and pulled out the ring box. “Alex.”  

Alex was already nodding, but he asked anyway. “Will you marry me?”

“ _Yes_ ,” was the immediate, half-sobbed half-laughed reply. He slipped the ring onto his finger and made to stand up, but Alex was already on his way down and they ended up in a heap on the ground.

“I don’t know what I expected,” Aaron sighed into his fiance’s hair. Alex hummed in agreement and proceeded to kiss him everywhere he could reach on his face at the awkward angle they’d fallen into. So mostly his left cheek and the corner of his eye. Aaron shifted for a proper kiss. “Romantic enough, then?”

“I loved it. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

They traded more soft kisses for a few moments, but the start of a chilly breeze drove them to stand up and start blowing out candles so they could head inside.

Alex scooped up a makeshift bouquet and brought it in with them. “Y’know,” he said as Aaron shut the door behind them, “this kind of blows _my_ surprise out of the water.”

Aaron, distracted by the way Alex was flushed and glowing still, took a moment to parse what he’d said. “What surprise?” he asked.

A bit sheepishly, Alex motioned with a jerk of his chin towards the door to the guest bedroom just off the hallway. Not sure what to expect, Aaron wandered over and opened the door.

And a fluffy gray cat wandered out.

“ _Oh my god._ ”

The cat paused but then made a beeline for him, rubbing against his shins. Aaron crouched down and held out a hand, which the feline sniffed delicately before rubbing its head along his knuckles. “Ohhhhhh my god.”

“I picked her up from the shelter this morning, her name is Ducklegs because she walks really funny but I figured we’d just call her Duck? Anyway it already seems like she likes you a lot better than she likes me, she threw a fit when I put her in there.”

Duck flopped over and presented her stomach for rubbing, purring like a garbage disposal when Aaron complied.

“Okay, _rude_ ,” Alex huffed.

“I’m going to cry,” Aaron murmured, enraptured.

Alex rolled his eyes and set his flowers aside so he could crouch down next to him.

Which was how they ended up lying on the floor again half an hour later, with a purring Duck curled up between them, while Aaron spammed the group chat with pictures of her fluffy form.

_Okay_ , Theo texted back, _but how did that thing you were planning go?? Don’t tell me you were distracted by the cat_.

“Here, let me see.” Alex took his phone and held it up to take a group picture of the three of them — matching rings visible — and sent it. The rings were rose gold, the outsides engraved with curving scroll patterns, the insides simply inscribed _A &A. _Alex ran his thumb over his, setting the phone down and ignoring the way it started to vibrate non-stop with notifications.

“So who’s taking whose last name?” he asked.

Aaron blinked, distracted from Duck. “I’m not taking yours,” he said. “Aaron and Hamilton both end with an -on sound. It sounds weird.”

“Alexander and Burr both end with -er sounds,” his fiance pointed out.

“So we hyphenate and deal with it.”

“But whose name comes first?” Alex persisted.

“Mine obviously.” He continued before Alex could protest. “One, Burr-Hamilton objectively sounds better, two, it’s alphabetical, and three, and this one is the most important, _I’m_ the one who proposed. So.”

“ _So_.”

They grinned at each other.

Duck purred away between them.

“We’re going to be really happy,” Alex murmured, eyes alight and affectionate.

 

And they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the kind of cat is a [nebelung](http://aozoranoshita.tumblr.com/post/157218862292/jenl2881-skitty-brought-me-the-mouse-she), which is a russian blue derivative with a german name meaning "creature of the mist"  
> also [this](http://www.brilliantearth.com/Hand-Engraved-Laurel-Ring-Rose-Gold-BE243B/) is a scrolled ring, so something similar
> 
> aaaaand that's it for this verse!! (I think. I'm pretty sure.)
> 
> feedback is much much appreciated and happy valentines day!! (or whatever day it is you're reading this)

**Author's Note:**

> the "he likes to be on top" thing was previously discussed in the previous fic for this verse? and I was looking at that screenshot of "he likes to be tall" from that 70s show and I couldn't let it go so HERE THIS IS  
> if you have opinions on engagement rings, hmu  
> also on tumblr @aozoranoshita


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